Atrial Fibrillation Research In CATalonia

The AFRICAT study is a prospective, multicenter, population-based study, which aims to create and apply a sequential screening program for atrial fibrillation (AF) in a high-risk population by integrating clinical, electrocardiographic and biological information. The study will be divided into three different phases of generation, validation and application of a screening program. In Phase I, from 8,000 individuals aged 65-75 with hypertension and diabetes identified from primary center registries, 100 will be randomly selected . In these patients, the investigators will complete clinical assessment, testing of different pulse-handheld ECG devices (MyDiagnostik, AliveCor and WatchBP) for AF screening, discovery of blood biomarkers for AF (by aptamer technology and RNA expression), and validation of biological candidates from the literature and previous results. All patients will receive Holter monitoring with a wearable device (NuuboTM). In parallel, a predictive risk model for AF will be developed from historical records from the areas in which the study will be carried out. This Phase I will be followed by a Phase II-validation phase of 400 patients, selected by the predictive model previously mentioned, belonging to the top risk quartile. In these patients, the best biomarkers and devices from phase I will be validated, and patients will be again monitored with the wearable Holter device. With the results from this validation analysis, a screening program (Phase III) based in the combination of clinical predictors, devices to detect AF (handheld-ECG or pulse wave detectors), blood biomarkers determination and long-term monitoring with wearable Holter. This program will be applied over the whole population targeted by the AFRICAT study, which corresponds to 8,000 patients from 65 to 75 years old, whit hypertension and diabetes mellitus as comorbidities.